From: Mike Iacono To: Subject: BLUE HILL MA 171300 -SCT 75 42/24/E3/2995F HI/LO 42/32 Date: Saturday, March 17, 2001 2:56 PM BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY, MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FT. ABOVE MSL....10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 2001 PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: http:// www.bluehill.org THE DAILY DISCUSSION.... BEAUTIFUL LATE WINTER DAY BETWEEN TWO WEAK STORMS....We have nearly full sunshine today through some thin cirrus with a high temperature so far in the low 40s. The first storm passed south of New England last night bringing only clouds to the area, while the second storm, also expected to pass just south of New England, may bring a few snow showers overnight. Snow depth on the summit is now down to 11 inches, though it varies from 0 to 23 inches. The March snow total of 33.5 inches makes this month the 6th snowiest March on record. - MJI NEXT MEETING OF THE BLUE HILL OBSERVATORY... A meeting is currently being planned for 7 PM, April 12 with guest speaker Christine Clayburg, WHDH-TV weekend meteorologist to be held at the Blue Hill Observatory. BLUE HILL OBSERVATIONS Look for the hourly observations from the Blue Hill ASOS on the Internet. Our station code is KMQE. One good site is run by the NWS: http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KMQE.html The main page for this site is: http://weather.noaa.gov/index.html Today's observations: 7 AM BHO SA 1155 90 SCT 250 -SCT 60 158/32/22/3605/000/ FEW HIR AC E-SE FEW LWR CI E WND LGT/ 8/071 4/011 53014 10037 20032 10 AM BHO SA 1455 CLR 70 155/38/23/0505/999/ FEW AC DSNT N FEW SC DSNT SE WND LGT AND VRB/ 8/530 58003 1 PM BHO SA 1755 250 -SCT 75 141/42/24/0902/995/ WND LGT AND VRB/ 8/001 56014 10042 20032 WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 16: PEAK WIND GUST FOR FRIDAY............23 MPH NW AT 8:28 AM AEROVANE.........26 MPH NW AT 8:28 AM ASOS.............23 MPH NW AT 8:28 AM AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIR.........10.2 MPH, NW ASOS............9.4 MPH WINDS AT BLUE HILL FOR SATURDAY, MARCH 17: PEAK WIND GUST THROUGH 1 PM..........16 MPH NE AT 1:33 AM AEROVANE.........18 MPH NNE AT 1:07 AM ASOS.............15 MPH NE AT 1:33 AM TEMPERATURES AT BLUE HILL FOR FRIDAY, MARCH 16: MAX.....49 NORMAL.....44 ASOS.....49 AT 4:09 PM MIN.....33 NORMAL.....28 ASOS.....33 AT 6:44 AM MEAN....41 NORMAL.....36 DEP.....+5 DEP FOR MONTH.....-42 March is averaging about 2.5 degrees below normal per day. HEATING DEGREE DAYS AT BLUE HILL: HEATING UNITS FOR FRIDAY...............24 DEP.......-5 HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH...........547 DEP......+42 HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........5194 DEP......+88 HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON............4540 DIFF....+654 PRECIPITATION DATA AT BLUE HILL..... TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 AM....0.00 IN DEP....-0.14 IN ASOS.............0.00 IN TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH.........5.33 INS DEP....+3.02 INS ASOS.............4.60 INS TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR.........11.16 INS DEP....+0.39 IN ASOS.............9.14 INS SNOWFALL DATA AT BLUE HILL..... TOTAL SNOWFALL THROUGH 7AM.................0.0 INS DEP....-0.4 INS TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH..............33.5 INS DEP...+27.6 INS TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............82.5 INS DEP...+31.6 INS March is now the sixth snowiest on record, snowiest is 52.0" in 1956. RECORDS FOR MARCH 17 HIGH 65 IN 1936, 1989 LOW 6 IN 1885 PRE 1.97 INS IN 1968 SNOW 6.5 INS IN 1956 WIND 70 MPH SSW IN 1973 RECORDS FOR MARCH 18 HIGH 68 IN 1999 LOW 0 IN 1885 PRE 5.61 INS IN 1968 (CALENDAR DAY RECORD FOR MARCH) SNOW 9.3 INS IN 1985 WIND 71 MPH WNW IN 1941 (ESTIMATED) Note: Several daily precipitation records were set during the snowstorms last week. On March 5, the precip total of 1.76" broke the previous record of 1.73" set on that date in 1917. On March 6, the precip total of 1.85" surpassed 1.78" set in 1943, and 15.5 inches of snow broke the previous record of 10.0 inches recorded in 1887. Also, the 6.3 inches of snow on March 9 surpassed the old record of 6.0 inches set in 1906 and 1939. Daily wind records are for the period 1940-2000. Temperature and precipitation records are for the full period of record 1885-2000. Mike Iacono